Our Man in
Kabul Says US Strategy is Failing
• French weekly reveals ambassador's dispatch
• Jihadis flooding into Afghanistan, says general
By Julian Borger, diplomatic editor and Simon Tisdall in
Washington
04/10/09 "The
Guardian" -- - Britain's ambassador to
Afghanistan believes the US strategy there is failing, Nato
reinforcements would be counter-productive and that it would
be better if "an acceptable dictator" came to power in Kabul
in the next few years, a French satirical weekly reported
yesterday.
The comments attributed to Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles were
included in a diplomatic dispatch sent on September 2 from a
French diplomat in Kabul and published by the French weekly,
Le Canard Enchaîné, which combines investigative journalism
and satire.
The French diplomat, Jean-François Fitou, quoted
Cowper-Coles as saying in a meeting: "The American strategy
is destined to fail.
"The coalition presence - particularly the military presence
- is part of the problem, not the solution," Cowper-Coles is
quoted as saying. More Nato troops would have "a perverse
effect".
"It would identify us even more clearly as an occupying
force and multiply the number of targets [by insurgents]."
According to the published memo, he also says the elected
Afghan government of Hamid Karzai had lost all trust, and
that it would be a "positive thing" if in five to 10 years,
after the departure of British troops, the country was
governed by "an acceptable dictator".
A Foreign Office statement issued yesterday said: "It is not
for us to comment on something that is presented as extracts
from a French diplomatic telegram, but the views quoted are
not in any way an accurate representation of the British
government's approach. We work closely with our US allies in
all aspects of decision making and regularly review our
approach."
British officials have expressed deep concern over the
security situation in Afghanistan, and have clashed with the
US over elements of policy, such as counter-narcotics. The
leaked memo has emerged at a time of deepening gloom over
the security situation in Afghanistan. The UN secretary
general, Ban Ki-moon, said it had "deteriorated markedly"
over the past six months, and pointed to the increasing
attacks on aid workers. At least 30 have been killed so far
this year.
General David McKiernan, the top US commander in
Afghanistan, warned yesterday that militant Islamist jihadis
were flooding into the country from all corners of the
Muslim world to join the Taliban's fight against the Nato
alliance, mostly via Pakistan. "They are very well trained.
They are good at attacks on soft targets. They are Uzbeks,
Chechens, Punjabis, Arabic [sic], Europeans," he said.
Speaking at a press conference in Washington, McKiernan said
efforts were underway to improve cooperation with the
Pakistani military and intelligence services to halt the
flow of jihadis. While he welcomed recent changes at the top
of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence spy agency, he
described the ISI as "historically and institutionally
complicit" in Taliban activities in Pakistan's tribal areas.
McKiernan confirmed he was seeking an additional three US
combat brigades - approximately 10,500 soldiers - to
reinforce the 40-country Nato International Security
Assistance Force mission. He said the troops should be
deployed as quickly as possible.
The following correction was printed in the Guardian's
Corrections and clarifications column, Friday October 3 2008
In the article below about comments attributed to Sir
Sherard Cowper-Coles, Britain's ambassador to Afghanistan,
we said that the French weekly Le Canard Enchaîné published
a diplomatic dispatch from French diplomat Jean-François
Fitou, which reported on a meeting on September 2 and quoted
Cowper-Coles's comments to the effect that he believes the
US strategy in Afghanistan is destined to fail. In fact Le
Canard Enchaîné reported that the dispatch was sent on
September 2 and was about a meeting that had just happened;
the date of the meeting is not clear. This has been
corrected.
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